The Travels Of Mortimer Brown

This is the story of Mortimer Brown Who went for his mother some errands in town, Who was told he must come back as quick as he could And as earnestly promised his mother he would. He went down the front steps full three at a time And swung on the gate, for the swinging was prime.

He teetered on all the loose boards in the walk And met Jimmy Brady and sat down to talk; He climbed up the trunk of a big tree that stands Not so far from his home, and he swung with both hands. He passed the cow pasture and stopped for a stroll, Climbed the fence and turned twice on the very top pole.

Then he turned a few handsprings all through the long grass And sat on the fence to watch Peter Bates pass With a big flock of sheep, and he got himself chased By the biggest black ram and he fell in his haste Down the bank of the brook and he sat there about Half an hour in the sun till his clothes were dried out. He laid off his coat since the day was so hot And chose a bypath through the strawberry plot; He gathered some berries to eat on his way Till alarmed by the watch-dog’s deep, ominous bay. Then he followed a rabbit as far as he could Until it was lost in the depth of a wood, And marked a bee tree so to find it again When he and Jim Brady should visit Beech Glen. So tired then he was that he sat down to rest And he fell sound asleep with his coat and his vest

Spread under his head, when the rumble of wheels On the road waked him up and he saw Elmer Beals Driving by in the lane and he climbed up beside On a big load of squashes and had a fine ride, And helped lead the horses to water as soon As they both reached the town in the late afternoon. And then, oh, alas! The long list Mother wrote Of the things he should get had dropped out of his coat,

So he bought some stick candy and cookies--he knew Of the things she would need they must surely be two, And munching them sadly the whole of the way Back homeward he wondered what Mother would say. I wonder if ever in country or town You have known such a lad as this Mortimer Brown?